Champ Trail - February 23, 2016

  The Modified action at New Smyrna finally got the green on Tuesday night with the Joe Brady Memorial 50 lapper. Ron Silk took the lead from Ryan Preece with four laps to go after Preece’s car developed handling problems. Preece, who had led since lap six, finished second with JR Bertuccio, third. Chuck Hossfeld finished fourth with Justin Bonsignore, fifth.

  Tuesday night at New Smyrna saw Eric Goodale in victory lane at the conclusion of the John Blewett III Memorial 76 lapper. Ryan Preece continued to be a bridesmaid as he finished second. From the 26th lap Goodale was in control of the field. Justin Bonsignore finished third with Jimmy Zacharias and Chuck Hossfeld completing the top five.

  The third time was a charm for Ryan Preece as he won the 35 lap Tour type Modified feature at New Smyrna on Thursday night. Preece blew away Ron Silk on lap 8 and never looked back. Justin Bonsignore finished second. JR Bertuccio finished third with Eric Goodale and newcomer Etienne Cliché rounding out the top five.

  At the Daytona International Speedway on Thursday night, races for qualifying spots were held under the lights. Dale Earnhardt Jr. won the first Can-Am Duel 150 followed by Joey Logano, Ryan Blaney, Kevin Harvick and Casey Kahne. Kyle Busch won the 2nd Can-Am Duel. Jamie McMurray finished 2nd followed by Kurt Busch, Carl Edwards and Ty Dillon.

  In the Modified Series finale Richie Evans 100 Ryan Preece reigned supreme as he put his Eddie Partridge #6 in victory lane. Preece’s effort was not without incident. With the closing moments in sight, Preece almost lost the lead because of a lapped car. Eric Goodale, who was second at the time, couldn’t muster the energy to get by and had to second at the checker. JR Bertuccio, Jimmy Zacharias and Justin Bonsignore rounded out the top five. The RE 100 win solidified his second straight Tour-Type Modified championship at New Smyrna Speedway.

  Second generation driver Chase Elliott Saturday’s won the Powershares QQQ 300 NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Daytona International Speedway. Joey Logano finished second with Kasey Kahne, third. Elliott Sadler and Austin Dillon rounded out the top five. Ryan Preece finished 40th after being involved in a lap five accident.

  Denny Hamlin won the closest Daytona 500 ever when he went to the outside in turn three on the final lap to pass teammate Matt Kenseth. The Joe Gibbs Racing driver then drove side-by-side with Martin Truex, Jr. across the starting finish line edging Truex by 0.010-of-a-second – less than one foot. Hamlin’s No. 11 Toyota powered the driver to victory in his 11th attempt. Defending NASCAR Sprint Cup champion Kyle Busch finished third in a Toyota with 2007 Daytona 500 winner Kevin Harvick fourth in a Chevrolet. Carl Edwards was the third JGR Toyota in the top five.

  The Tour type Modifieds were not part of the final night of racing at New Smyrna. The ninth and final night of the World Series of Asphalt Stock Car Racing kicked off with two 35-lap races featuring the Florida Modifieds and the Pro Late Models, which was controlled by California’s Derek Thorn from start to finish. It was the second win of the 2016 World Series for Thorn, but the first since the second night of racing. His first victory, exactly one week previous, left Thorn eager to come up with another before the week was up.

  The Florida Modifieds also concluded their championship on night nine with Cody Stickler clinching the championship with an initial second-place finish, but was later promoted to his fourth win of the week after Josh Todd was disqualified for a post-race technical infraction with his shock absorbers.

  On a sad note, Bruce Cohen reminds us that it's been 47 years since Don MacTavish passed away at Daytona.

  On the speedway stock market scene last week all three speedway stocks ended the week on a positive note. The International Speedway Corporation led the way as they went up 1.86 to 34.49. Speedway Motorsports went up 0.51 to 18.53 and Dover Entertainment went up 0.16 to 2.17. NASCAR fuel supplier Sunoco (Energy Transfer) went up 5.28 to 28.94 and NASCAR cup sponsor Sprint went up 0.27 to 2.93 while NASCAR tire supplier Goodyear dropped 0.08 to 29.61. The car manufacturers were all green for the week. Leading the way was General Motors, which went up 1.07 to 28.78. Ford went up 0.55 to 12.10 and Toyoya went up 0.05 to 105.31. In the home improvement sector, Home Depot went up 5.37 to 121.69 and Lowes went up 3.65 to 68.52. In big team sponsors stocks, McDonalds dropped 1.20 to 116.53, Coca-Cola went up 14.62 to 177.00, Target went up 2.37 to 72.32, Aarons Rentals dropped 0.05 to 22.03 and Fedex went up 1.16 to 129.76.

  On the tube this week:

  Thursday, February 25
2:00 AM, NASCAR Race Hub, FOX Sports 1
7:00 AM, NASCAR America, NBC Sports Net
5:00 PM, NASCAR Race Hub, FS1
5:00 PM, NASCAR America, NBCSN

  Friday, February 26
2:00 AM, NASCAR Race Hub, FS1
7:00 AM, NASCAR America, NBCSN
9:00 AM, NXS Atlanta practice, FS1
10:00 AM, NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Atlanta practice, FS1
11:00 AM, NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Atlanta practice, FS1
12:30 PM, NASCAR Xfinity Series Atlanta practice, FS1
1:30 PM, NCWTS Atlanta practice, FS1
2:30 PM, NXS Atlanta final practice, FS1
4:00 PM, NCWTS Atlanta final practice, FS1
5:30 PM, NSCS Atlanta qualifying, FS1

  Saturday, February 27
4:00 AM, NSCS Atlanta practice re-air, FS1
5:30 AM, NSCS Atlanta qualifying re-air, FS1
7:00 AM, The 10 - Earnhardt Moments, FS1
8:30 AM, NXS Atlanta qualifying, FS1
10:00 AM, NCWTS Atlanta qualifying, FS1
11:30 AM, NSCS Atlanta final practice, FS1
1:00 PM, NXS RaceDay, FS1
1:30 PM, NXS Atlanta race, FS1
4:00 PM, NCWTS SetUp, FS1
4:30 PM, NCWTS Atlanta race, FS1
6:30 PM, 100,000 Cameras: Daytona 500, FS1

  Sunday, February 28
11:00 AM, NASCAR RaceDay, FS1
1:00 PM, NSCS Atlanta race, FOX

   That’s about it for this week from 11 Gardner Drive, Westerly, and R.I.02891. Ring my chimes at 401-596-5467.
E-mail: smithpe_97_97@yahoo.com.

Phil Smith has been a columnist for Speedway Scene and various
other publications for over 3 decades.
 

Source: Phil Smith / Champ Trail
Posted: February 23, 2016